Politics

ZAGREB, September 14, 2019 - The newly-established Marko Babić Leadership Development Centre was opened at the "Josip Jović" barracks in the central town of Udbina, with President and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović presenting diplomas to instructors who underwent the centre's demanding training programme. The event was also addressed by Defence Minister Damir Krstičević, and the Army Chief-of-Staff, General Mirko Šundov, who both said that the centre was established on the model of the centre for the specialist training of non-commissioned officers "Damir Tomljanovic Gavran", which operated in Šepurine near Zadar from 1994 to 2000 and whose establishment was initiated…

ZAGREB, September 13, 2019 - According to a population estimate made by the national statistical office (DZS), Croatia had 4,087,843 residents in the mid-2018, which was a decrease of 0.9%, or by 36,688 fewer residents, compared to the estimate for the year before. All counties, but the City of Zagreb and Istria, experienced the downsizing of the population. In mid-2018 the Croatian capital registered an increase by 0.22% and the County of Istria a rise of 0.26% in population. The biggest decline of 3.04% was registered in Vukovar-Srijem County. Broken down by gender, men accounted for 48.3% of the total…

ZAGREB, September 13, 2019 - Delegations o the Town of Pazin and local anti-Fascist associations on Friday laid a wreath outside the building in Pazin in which on 13 September 1943, the Istria committee of the People's Liberation Movement decided on reintegration of Istria in Croatia. Addressing the ceremony, a representative of the anti-Fascist associations, Tomislav Ravnić, said that events and people who fought for joining Istria to Croatia should never be forgotten. In that struggle, 17,000 Istrians died, which is far more than "in the Homeland War, which was imposed on us", Ravnić said underscoring that he did not…

ZAGREB, September 13, 2019 - Austria is grateful to Croatia for protecting the EU borders, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said after meeting with his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlić Radman in Vienna on Friday. Our security and migration policy is highly praised. We protect national and European Union borders, Grlić Radman said, adding that the EU can count on Croatia in that respect. He was responding to Austrian reporters' questions about criticisms of Croatian police over the treatment of migrants on the Croatian-Bosnian border. Migration topics won't go away, said Schallenberg, recalling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent statement that…

ZAGREB, September 13, 2019 - The main committee of the opposition MOST party decided on Friday to support conservative independent candidate Miroslav Škoro at the forthcoming presidential election. "We want the next President of Croatia to be a person who will protect the interests of all citizens, and not just the interests of a party or his own interests. We think that this cannot happen under the wings of the existing large political parties, but that it can happen with a person who at this moment has a realistic chance of changing things and the rules of the game. That's…

Kristijan Ilovača is not the first Croatian police officer to go through the training at the FBI Academy, located near Quantico, Virginia, but he has recently graduated from the 10-week program. Elvis Sprečić writes for Večernji list about Kristijan's experiences at the most world's most prestigious law enforcement training facility, where each year around 750 trainees in three generations learn from the best FBI trainers. He's the eleventh police officer from Croatia to go to Quantico for the 10-week training, and the most famous one of them is Mario Bertina, who did great things in his police career after Quantico,…

ZAGREB, September 13, 2019 - After a historical flag of the Kingdom of Italy was displayed in the northern Croatian Adriatic city of Rijeka and a monument to Italian protofascist Gabriele D'Annunzio was unveiled in Trieste to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the occupation of Rijeka by his followers, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said in Zagreb on Thursday that Croatia would not tolerate such provocations and the government would not allow violations of the country's legal order and dignity. "We have presented a protest note and Minister (of Foreign and European Affairs) Gordan Grlić Radman was quite clear in his…

ZAGREB, September 12, 2019 - Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said after an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Thursday that the role of the Holy See in talks on future relations between Serbs and Croats was very important, stressing that as Serbia's president he would like the pope to visit Serbia but that his visit was a matter to be decided by the Serb Orthodox Church. "It is clear to everyone that we are divided by history and by the past, that we have completely opposite views of past events... I fear that if we fail to be…

ZAGREB, September 12, 2019 - The government of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday adopted a decision proclaiming territory along the Una river as a nature park and the entity's minister of Physical Planning and Environment, Srebrenka Golić, explained that this was a measure to prevent Croatia from building a nuclear waste depot on Trgovska Gora in Dvor municipality, which is in the near vicinity of the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The entity's Una Nature Park runs adjacent to the Una National Park in the Federation entity and now the river's basin on Bosnia and…

ZAGREB, September 12, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) leader Milorad Pupovac said "in his own style" that contemporary Croatia had nothing to do with the 1941-1945 NDH regime, and that he actually retracted his claims about Croatia being a factor of instability. "During his press conference yesterday, Mr. Pupovac stated in his own style things which were articulated differently than those of two weeks ago. He said in his own way that present-day Croatia has nothing to do with the NDH, and that Croatia is not a factor of instability."…